Falling off Horses on Islands

June 6/09....12:30 p.m.

Almost every morning during our biketours Herr Hund and Landfrau pass the racetrack of our (former) riding stables and inevitably riding stories cross my mind. And there are plenty, believe me. Some refer to holidays, I vividly remember my first ride on German grounds. At that time we lived in France but out of some forgotten reason decided to take our vaccation at the island of Juist, one of the northern German islands. I had started with my first riding lessons in France and there I rode those very easy to sit, smaller French breed horses. A treat! - Now, beeing a very eager beginner-horsewoman, I decided to book a ride at one of the local island stables. Got my first fright when I saw those huge creatures, but everything went well, I started to relax and enjoy myself, loping along the sandy beaches, but..then we reached harder ground on the way home and, never have been taught that position, where you stand in your stirrups, I started to bounce like sitting in an effen Deux-Chevaux and off I went, very much to the estonishment of the other riders. Was I ever embarassed!-
My second island flop happened only a few years ago at the Netherlands seaside , Schouwen-Duiveland . We have friends,who take their horses and put them up at a local, also rental, stable. So they meant well and invited Landfrau and daughter for a ride. Our friend told the stable owner that we were very good riders and that was a mistake. They gave us horses, which must have been sitting in their boxes for at least a week, probably beeing unmanagable for normal riders. Daughter had a run-away ,as soon as we reached the beach, she dissapeared as tiny dot at the horizon and me, I got a trotter, who must have been astonished that there was no sulky following up and stormed off in such a brisk trot that he just bounced me off too, only this time I fell at a high speed on ground where the water just had receeded and mind you, on top of beeing soaking wet I had the feeling I had fallen on pur concrete and I had hever been so bruised around my lower half up to the waistline in all my life. For 3 days my favoured companions were icepacks at the weirdest places.-
I have been riding horses in New Mexico and in Arizona, never having had any trouble. I should stay away from island-horses, for me, they are jynxed.